Tagged Questions

Usually, we're told that おる is a humble verb, and that mostly holds true. But sometimes I see it conjugated to a light honorific form おられる, usually when talking about someone to whom respect must be ...

I've always heard that 様 is a highly respectful honorific, being used to refer to lords, kings and deities. However, many times I hear people calling someone with 様, without sarcasm or irony, being ...

I received the following email and I want to submit the 要旨, but should I address the body of my email to 加島 or to 本部事務局?
I did a Google search for her full name but I didn't find it on a university ...

I already know that it's hardly used anymore, but for sentences such as 嬉しゅうございます, is this humble? That is to say, is it inappropriate to use the form for someone of higher social standing (provided ...

I just realized that newspapers sometimes end a person's name with 「さん」： 後藤さん不明、昨年１１月に把握 首相、答弁で明かす：。And then sometimes end a person's name with 「氏」：
自民・山本一太氏、人質事件で与野党結束訴え：。 In this forum, I found this ...

As explained in the thread titled "Can 美化語{びかご} create implied subjects?", in a very, very limited number of circumstances a noun could be upgraded to pseudo-尊敬語 by using 美化語 (such as ご気分{きぶん}, etc). ...

Good day!
I've seen some emails ending with 何卒宜しくお願い致します but I was wondering if it just raises the respect/politeness of a letter or does it have specific situations where it should/shouldn't be use?
...

I noticed that many Japanese businessmen tend to address the colleagues they are traveling with, or even introduce themselves as ◯◯◯さん. This would clearly be a faux-pas in a Japanese-only meeting, yet ...

Is there a good was to look up whether a 御 prefix is お or ご for a word? I know there is the Chinese origin versus Japanese origin thing (mentioned here). But is there a way to look up for a certain ...

I recently watched a Japanese drama titled 「おせん」. The title comes from the first name of the main character - the character's name is 半田{はんだ}仙{せん} who is a young お上{かみ} of a traditional restaurant.
...

"いくらですか？” seems like a common phrase taught to all students of Japanese? But, instead of saying "いくらですか？", I always used to go honorific and say "おいくらですか？".
Is adding 美化語{びかご} to "いくら" wrong? Could ...

(-) Whether a noun is サ変名詞{さへんめいし}, or not, is an attribute that is specified in the dictionary definition of nouns.
(-). "Possible to use 美化語{びかご}" surely should be an attribute of a noun? But, I do ...

So, 美化語 is used to create honorifics:
お名前
ご注文
etc.
But, the standard way to create the 謙譲語 form of verbs is:
お＋[verb stem] + いたします
That does not make logical sense to modify the action that you are ...

When do you use さん after a occupation? For example, would you say "札幌に行って、プログラマーにあいます" or "札幌に行って、プログラマーさんにあいます" to say "I am going to Sapporo, and meeting some programmers?"
Is it used to indicate ...

I've seen the honorific "o"/"go" (is it called bikago?) being used as politness or reverence: o-cha for non-western tea, o-namae when talking about someone else's name, o-genki instead of just genki, ...

No, this is not about any Buddhist chant or mantra that can be used to call forth Japanese gods or heavenly spirits, but rather about any specialized words or interjections that attract attention of ...

Does anyone know of any o-words or go-words which are absolutely neutral (have no nuances of being polite / courteous / respectful / womanly / cute etc etc)?
The only ones I'm aware of currently is ...